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North Pocono's Mallory Mokay helped organize a nonleague volleyball match against Dunmore last week that served two purposes.

First, the Dig Pink event helped raise funds for Side-Out, an organization dedicated to providing compassionate support to breast cancer patients and their families.

Second, it gave the Lady Trojans, who play in the Wyoming Valley Conference, a strong opponent in the Lackawanna League champions to sharpen their skills as they get ready for the District 2 Class AA playoffs that start tonight.

"We wanted to help raise money for Side-Out because it does such a good job for breast cancer patients and we just had a teacher die from breast cancer," said Mokay, mentioning Laura Youorski, who died in February. "We also know that Dunmore is a really good team from the Lackawanna League, and it was a good match for us."

With two marquee teams playing, the event drew a big crowd. Both teams also wore pink jerseys for the match.

"We had a really good turnout," Mokay said. "Between the table and raffle baskets we made a decent amount of money, so we are happy about that."

Now the Lady Trojans (15-2) will focus on the District 2 Class AA tournament that opens today with four quarterfinal matches.

North Pocono will host a doubleheader and play the second match against Nanticoke (11-6). Western Wayne (15-3) plays Tunkhannock (12-5) at 5 p.m. in the first match.

Holy Redeemer (17-0), which has never lost to a District 2 opponent, hosts the other doubleheader, playing Wyoming Area (10-7), 30 minutes after Crestwood (13-4) plays Lake-Lehman (12-5).

North Pocono has been led this season by Mallorie Deschaine, who has 148 kills, Amanda Hall, who has 341 assists, Emily Cook, who has 111 kills and Mokay.

"We are really excited," said Mokay, who leads North Pocono with 73 digs. "Last year, we lost the coin toss and weren't the No. 2 seed, so we are excited to be the second seed this year and get a home match.

"We need to keep working and do the fundamentals better than everybody else."

Western Wayne, which handed Dunmore its only loss of the regular season, has been led by recently by Jordyn Jacques and Brooke Enslin, while Rebecca Carmody is nursing an injury.

Both the Class AAA and Class A tournaments begin Tuesday.

Defending three-time Class AAA champion Delaware Valley is the top seed and will host the semifinal doubleheader. The Lady Warriors (16-1) will play Wyoming Valley West (8-9) in the second match, while Abington Heights (16-2), the No. 2 seed, will play Hazleton Area (11-6) at 5 p.m.

Delaware Valley is led by Alyssa Kelly, who has 183 kills and 121 assists. The 6-foot-2 senior has played well in the absence of Taylor Braunagel, an All-Region player who has missed 12 matches with an injury.

Abington Heights will be counting on Francesca Toth and Jenn Page to try to lead it back to the championship final.

And in Class A, Dunmore is the defending champion and No. 1 seed. The Lady Bucks (17-1) will host the semifinal doubleheader and play MMI Prep following the first match that has Susquehanna playing Blue Ridge.

Dunmore has been playing without reigning Times-Tribune Player of the Year, Jill Korgeski, but won its sixth straight Lackawanna League title with good efforts from Izzy Cooper, Abby Bessoir, Molly McCafferty and Megan Hartshorn.

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